White House refuses to co-operate with impeachment inquiry
The White House declared it will halt any and all co-operation with what it termed the “illegitimate” impeachment probe by House Democrats, sharpening the constitutional clash between President Donald Trump and Congress.
Trump lawyers sent a letter to House leaders bluntly stating White House refusal to participate in the inquiry, claiming that Mr Trump’s due process rights are being violated. It comes after last week’s release of a whistleblower’s complaint that the president sought political favours from Ukraine.
House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff tweeted in response that Trump’s refusal to cooperate with the inquiry signals an attitude that “the president is above the law”.
“The constitution says otherwise,” he asserted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted the House is well within its rules to conduct oversight of the executive branch under the constitution regardless of a formal impeachment inquiry vote.
Ms Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday night: “Mr President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”
The US constitution states the House has the sole power of impeachment, and that the Senate has the sole power to conduct impeachment trials. It specifies that a president can be removed from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours,” if supported by a two-thirds Senate vote. But it offers little guidance beyond that on proceedings.
The White House letter marks the beginning of a new all-out strategy to counter the impeachment threat to Mr Trump. Aides have been honing their approach after two weeks of what allies have described as a listless and unfocused response to the investigation.
The president is sticking with the Trump-as-victim rhetoric.
“People understand that it’s a fraud. It’s a scam. It’s a witch hunt,” he said on Monday. “I think it makes it harder to do my job. But I do my job, and I do it better than anybody has done it for the first two and half years.”
Mr Trump escalated his fight with Congress by blocking Gordon Sondland, the US European Union ambassador, from testifying behind closed doors about the president’s dealings with Ukraine.
Mr Sondland’s attorney, Robert Luskin, said his client was “profoundly disappointed” that he wouldn’t be able to testify.
Mr Schiff said Mr Sondland’s no-show was “yet additional strong evidence” of obstruction of Congress by Mr Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that will only strengthen a possible impeachment case.